Automail
by fallen-now-weeping
Summary: Leo stops in at Rockbell automail shop while taking Festus out for a spin. (Cover art by Viria on Tumblr)


Leo really hadn't meant to disturb anyone, really. All he had wanted to do was take Festus out for a spin in the countryside. But honestly, how could someone expect the son of Hephaestus miss out on the opportunity to stop off at the little two-story yellow house with the sign reading: "AUTOMAIL" in big capital letters.

He told Festus to fly a little ways away from the house and land on a hill with a tall scorched tree. He wasn't sure how much the Mist would cover from the mortals' eyes, and he didn't want to risk someone noticing his giant metal dragon parked on a street corner. He slid off Festus' back and started walking. When he got closer, he was surprised to hear a female voice shouting from the building.

"You broke it _again_?" she screamed. A clang and another shout followed her outburst, this voice distinctly male.

"I'm sorry, alright? Geez, you didn't have to hit me with another damn wrench!"

Leo walked up to the shop and saw two people, a girl in an engineer's jumpsuit with the sleeves tied around her waist and black crop-top and a short blond kid with… only one arm. The pair paused in their argument to look at Leo. He wasn't too surprised; he supposed it wasn't an everyday occurrence for strangers covered in dirt and motor oil to come into their little town.

"Hi," he greeted calmly.

"Hello! Are you a customer?" the girl smiled, her demeanor completely different from just a few seconds before.

"Uh, I guess so."

"Great!" she smiled, obviously excited about his business. "I'm Winry Rockbell, automail mechanic."

"You're a professional mechanic?" Leo was impressed. Not many mortals at that age could be good enough with machines to make a profit from their skills.

"I sure am. Would you like to make an appointment?" The girl, Winry was no longer paying any attention to the blond in the red coat.

"Actually, do you mind if I just take a look at your workshop? I'm a mechanic myself, although I don't work with, ah, automail."

"No problem, come on in."

"Thanks. Who's that, by the way?" asked Leo, referring to the short guy.

"My name's Edward Elric, I'm a state alchemist," he said, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Um, alright. I'm Leo Valdez, by the way." He decided not to ask about the missing arm, at least not just yet.

When he walked into the house, he was surprised by what he saw. A room off to the left looked like a sort of hospital room, with medicines and needles and things, while the one down the hall reminded him of the Hephaestus cabin at camp, spare parts and half-finished projects strewn everywhere. Now, normally this wouldn't be too strange, except that the "projects" all looked like mechanical human limbs. Something he was pretty sure wasn't the sort of thing you saw in the average mortal's household.

"So, what's… What's with all the limbs?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Winry turned to him from where she'd been quietly lecturing Ed. "I told you, I'm an automail engineer."

"Okay, looks like I'm gonna have to explain to you that I actually have no idea what automail is, I'm not from around here. I'm sort of a traveller at the moment, I guess."

"Oh, I see. We don't get many foreigners around here all too often. Basically, automail is the name we use for a metal prosthetic limb that uses wires connected to nerves to allow whoever has it to use it like a regular arm or leg," a gleam appeared in her eyes as she spoke. Clearly this girl was passionate about her machines, this was someone Leo could get along with.

"Whoa, that's impressive! So I guess that's why you're here?" Leo turned to Ed, who nodded.

"Yeah, I kind of broke my other one."

"How?" He didn't mean to be rude, but his ADHD usually didn't allow for restraint.

"Ed," Winry was glaring at him again. "Got into another fight. You know, you're lucky it was only your automail!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ed dismissed her anger like this was a regular thing.

"Hey, do you mind if I take a look at some of this stuff?" asked Leo, who was currently examining an arm he found on the living room table.

"Go ahead, just make sure not to damage anything."

Now he was really glad he had stopped by. He never was one to resist tinkering, and immediately became so immersed in this new discovery that he didn't notice Ed and Winry leaving the room until he glanced up to see Jason in an Iris-message in front of his face and realized soon after that they weren't there to see the strange sight.

"Hey Jason, what's up?" he asked.

"Hey Leo. We need you back here, there was a bit of an incident with some wind spirits and we gotta head out."

"Yeah, alright. I'll be back in a couple minutes." And with that, he got up from his seat on the couch and walked off to say goodbye to Winry and Ed. It was really too bad he wouldn't be coming back out to see them again; he would have loved to learn more about automail. Ah, well. Maybe he could figure it out given enough time.


End file.
